WILLIMANTIC, CT  — Daniela Marchitto scored her 15th goal of the season in the 57th minute and Mackenzie MacLeod and Theresa Pagnozzi combined on the team's seventh shutout as No 2 seed Eastern Connecticut State University moved into the Little East Confereence women's soccer final with a 1-0 win over No. 3 seed Western Connecticut State University Friday night at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex. Eastern (11-8-0) visits top-seeded Keene State College Sunday at 1p.m., with the winner being awarded an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Keene advanced to the final with a 3-1 penalty kick victory over No. 4 seed Massachusetts Boston Friday at Keene, NH. Keene and UMass had played to a 1-1 overtime draw before Keene converted three of its four penalty kicks and UMass missed three of its four.

Marchitto took a return pass from Kelly Wallace and carried in full stride down the left side of the field before sending a left-footed shot from a difficult angle between Western (13-7-0) keeper Caitlin Avery and the left post for what proved to be her fourth game-winning goal of the season.

Making her third appearance of the season, Pagnozzi made three saves in the second half to gain the victory.
In a scoreless game nine minutes into the second half, Eastern unloaded three consecutive shots (among its four in the half) from in front of the goal but came away empty. Megan Godwin hit the right post with the first shot and two subsequent shots were knocked down by Avery.

Ten minutes into the second half with the game still scoreless, Pagnozzi timed her leap to grab a free kick by Western's Erika Moran for Eastern's most difficult save of the game.

Marchitto's insurance goal on a one-timer with 14 minutes left off passes from Amber Petrizzo and Nicole Leonard was nullfied due to an offside call.

It marks the first time that Eastern has defeated Western in six LEC tournament games. Western won three times and two ended it ties. Each team advanced on penalty kicks once following the two ties.

Eastern defeated 2010 LEC tournament champion Western, 2-0, in the regular season Oct. 1 at Danbury for its third straight win over the Colonials since losing to Western, 2-1, in the 2008 LEC final at Danbury.

Keene defeated Eastern, 2-0, Oct. 8 at Keene, NH. Eastern has won two LEC tournament titles both times over Keene, mostly recently with a 1-0 victory at Keene, NH in 2009. Keene has won two titles as well, most recently in 2004 with a 3-0 victory over Eastern at Keene, NH. In LEC finals, Eastern is 2-1 against Keene and was also awarded the 2003 title over the Owls with a penalty-kick advantage.